The Annual General Meeting of the Wexford GAA Supporters Club took place on Tuesday 26th Feb at the Riverside Park Hotel. In his opening address the Chairman Arthur Quinn complimented his Committee for the trojan work done throughout the year on the various fundraisers – Golf Classic, Race Day, Turf Cutters Walk and the most recent and very excellent Black Tie Awards Night which was a tremendous success and a most prestigious event however he said it was all a very difficult sell in these challenging times. Arthur went on to pay tribute to our victorious Camogie team and their marvellous 3 in a row achievement. He stressed the importance of Supporters Club Membership and invited people to come forward with suggestions on how to make the membership more appealing to the ordinary punters. Before concluding Arthur made a presentation of flowers to outgoing Secretary Mary Kennedy and thanked her profusely for all her work on behalf of the Supporters Club over many years.
Photo – Newly elected Wexford Supporters Club Committee: Bill Mernagh (Racing Committee), Una Bird Asst. Sec, Denis Nolan (Membership), Breda Curran (Ladies Football), Rose Breen (Camogie), Tom Boland Secretary, Des Croke (Golf Committee), Maria Nolan PRO, Ben Bernie (Club Wexford), Seated: Mary Kennedy (Outgoing Secretary), Arthur Quinn Chairman, Larry Ryan Treasurer.
Treasurer Larry Ryan presented the Accounts saying that there was €15,000 in the Supporters Club coiffeurs at the present time with monies still coming in for Awards Night. Ben Bernie gave an account of funds with Club Wexford at €17,000 – bringing the joint total to €32,000.
Des Croke looked for support for upcoming Golf Classic on 3rd May at Wexford Golf Club saying that he envisaged this being a most lucrative venture if everyone put their backs to the wheel.
PRO Maria Nolan reminded all present of the Jim Bolger This is your Life event at the Ferrycarrig Hotel on Sunday 3rd March saying that this will be a most entertaining and enjoyable event with a wonderful line up of celebrity talent from both the racing and GAA worlds including AP McCoy, Kevin Manning, DJ Carey, Ronnie Delaney, Willie Mullins and Colm O`Rourke to mention but a few. Maria went on to inform members that there would also be a terrific draw at the event including prizes of 2 Annual Subs to Lepardstown Race Course valued at €350 each, 2 tickets to the Cheltenham Gold Cup valued at £90 sterling each, €500 in Paddy Power Bets along with lots more. Maria also said that the Awards Night had been a great occasion and expressed sincere thanks to Alan Keyes and Glen Fuels for their overall sponsorship and for their contribution to the success of the evening and said that through the process she now had access to a new database that could prove invaluable to both Wexford Supporters Club and County Board.
On behalf of Club Wexford Ben Bernie thanked Creane & Creane for their very generous sponsorship towards our County Underage teams and thanked Pat Farrell for his work in the Chair during the year and Rose Breen for her tremendous work selling tickets at the Ploughing Championships.
Bill Mernagh on behalf of the Racing Committee gave an account of the Race Day saying that although money had been lost due to the rescheduling of the event because of bad weather we still came out with a profit and all who attended had a great day out – he thanked Wexford Race Course, Phelim Byrne, Liam O`Connor and all who were involved with the fundraiser.
County Secretary Margaret Doyle apologised for the absence of the Chairman Diarmuid Devereux and put on record their sincere thanks for the vital work being done by Wexford Supporters Club – all funds raised going towards the welfare and development of our County teams.
New Camogie Manager Martin Lynch gave his thanks to all for the support financially and otherwise received from the Supporters Club and outlined some of his plans and ambitions for the coming season as did new Football Manager Aidan O`Brien.
The election of Officers went as follows – Arthur Quinn returned as Chairman for 2013, David Kent returned as Vice Chair, Tom Boland elected as new Secretary, Una Bird returned as Asst. Secretary, Larry Ryan returned as Treasurer and Maria Nolan returned as PRO.
Chairman Arthur Quinn formally concluded proceedings by thanking both Aidan and Martin for attending and addressing the meeting and he wished all incoming Officers and Committee the very best of luck in 2013 – `The work goes on and the cause continues`.
Maria Nolan
Wexford Supporters Club PRO
Feb 2013